Reflection #12: Summer Program at Oxford!

This summer I was given the opportunity to go to a summer program in Oxford that lasted a whole month. During the month I had to take two classes in which we would be graded on and given homework, if the teacher decided. I chose Neuropsychology and Literature and the Fantastic. I chose these two because I found them very interesting, one was a branch of psychology that had to do with the more scientific aspect of it, the brain, while the other one was like having an english class but instead of books found in our normal syllabus they were books like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, and others. Before going I was very nervous because it would be a whole month away from family and friends in a new country, plus I would have to live with a roommate. It ended up being better than I expected, my roommate was really nice, my classes were very fun, and I met so many people from different cultures and backgrounds. Not only that but the program itself gave us many new opportunities. We got to go experience different Shakespeare plays the british way in the grounds of collages that formed part of the Oxford University, we took trips to London and Broughton Castle. Overall I saw my strengths and the areas i needed to grow according to how to live in a different country going to University. I undertook this challenge so that I would feel better prepared after graduation and I was also able to learn new things in the classes that I was part of.  

Reflection #11: Helping Teachers (Last week of school)

Every end of year the teachers have to take everything down from their classrooms and put books in boxes for the summer. This last week of school me and some friends decided to help some teachers with their classroom. Therefore we stayed after school and we took down bulletin boards from the walls, like in Mrs. Strootmans classroom we took down all the small posters from the walls, paper decorations she had put up, and cover the bookshelves with paper to prevent them from being filled with dust. With Ms. Guerra we helped put books in boxes since she was changing classrooms and also taking down things from the walls. With Mr. Meisner we helped clean his room in general since he was leaving school and needed to leave the room clean. We also helped Mr. Perez by putting books in boxes for Books for Africa, one of our CAS activities, and to help around his classroom for the next year.  

Reflection #10: Books for Africa

This last quarter Mr Perez gave us the idea for a new CAS activity, Books For Africa which is a company that takes used books in good conditions and sends them to Africa. This would involve us looking for books that are in good conditions that the school doesn't use anymore. Since this was the last quarter we didn't have much work so we were able to get enough time to collect boxes and and the books from the classrooms. The books we took came from Ms. Sankaran, Ms. Smith, Mrs. Strootman, and Mr. Perez's classroom, so the books ranged from math books to english literature books. Due to the fact that the school year is ending we were giving the permission to leave the boxes we have packed with books in Mr. Perez's room and the auditorium, therefore when we start next year we will finish packing the books in boxes and hopefully be able to send the books with the program that sends them to Africa.

Reflection #9: Chess Tournament

I joined the chess tournament for the first time this year and I was actually surprised. It took place for one whole week (June 4-8) during lunch. The first game was a draw and the second one as well. I lost the third game and the last two games I won. I was not expecting in making a checkmate and I ended up making two so I was pretty proud. In the end I got in 4^th place, among other people who had gotten 3 of the 5 points you could get in the whole tournament. I was told that there will be more chess tournaments next year and I think I might join. The only problem is that its during lunch time and that time is usually used to finish work or eat peacefully, so I’m still not 100% sure depends on how next year turns out to be. 

Reflection #8: English Classes (CAS project)

So far Stephanie, Daniela, and I have started our CAS project, which is teaching English to the kids at Salvation Army. The first days were hard because we weren’t really sure how to start teaching them or even grabbing their attention for an hour but as the classes passed on we can see who are the kids that really show interest in learning and who don't, and with this we can focus on the kids that want to learn because we don't want to force anyone into learning something. We brought in folder for them to decorate to their liking so that they could place all the work they had done in our classes. We have started teaching them really easy things like the colors and numbers.

May 12, 2012
Today was mothers day here in Venezuela, so we came up with the idea to make the class about mothers and love and family. We helped them create heart shaped cards with origami and helped them write a letter to their mothers in english. Not all of them had mothers, but they were still eager to create the heart shaped origami figures for anyone else.

June 9, 2012
We have been going to the orphanage for some days now, due to our different schedules it has been hard for all of us to go together to every single class, but we have managed. Some of the kids have not shown much interest so the class has been getting smaller, but the ones who have stayed really like the classes. Unfortunately this was the last class we are able to go this year since summer is almost here and most of us are leaving for vacations. Therefore we decided to make this class more fun instead of just doing work.

August 24, 2012

Today in the CAS showcase we showed the Juniors and some teachers a video we made about Salvation Army and whether what we were doing was helpful for the kids. We interviewed the guardian of the orphanage about our job, we even made small videos so the juniors could meet the kids that are staying in the orphanage. In another note, this new year we have decided to stop the english classes after some consideration since we can see how it is more important to them to have better reinforcement in their Spanish for the future so they can be more prepared once they leave the orphanage at 18. So we have been going there to help them with their homework in general. 

Reflection #7: Sleepy Hollow Play: Helper

I helped Mrs. Harvey with the School Play “Sleepy Hollow” by being the sound with Stephanie Hay Chu, even though she dropped out later on and helping with the Set design. For set design it was fun because we got to create things like a moon, a chandeliers, the backgrounds and other things, so I didn’t complain much because I found out that it is something that I enjoy doing, and by the time that it was all ready it look good! At the same time, like I said before, I also helped Mrs. Harvey with the sound and at first it was annoying having to stay after school for two hours every Tuesday and Thursday but then I got used to it. Once the day of the play came the nerves came because even though I wasn't acting I still had to click play at the right time so that it went smoothly with play. A thing that made it worse was that only the day of the play did we practice with the actual sound speakers, the rest of the days it was with a laptop so that was kind of nerve-wracking, not only that but the CD was scratched so it would pause at random times and I could only try my best to click play again once it stopped. During the actual play today the music only stopped once I think that was ‘hearable’ which was horrible but for the rest of the play it went ok. It was a good experience, but I don’t know if I would do sound I might just do Set Design or something else.  But it was a nice experience to have.

Reflection #6: Big Band Helper

 One of my friends, Rosana Pozo, is creating an activity to bring a Jazz band, Big Band Maracaibo, to school, therefore I decided to help her anyway I could. Because one of the main problems was advertising she asked us if we were willing to advertise in the elementary assembly about the band coming to school and because it was for little kids she had the idea of making a Christmas dance with the song ‘Jingle Bells’ the cover by Glee and after the dance she would announce the coming of the band. On Wednesday I stayed afterschool with her and we started practicing and finishing up with all the steps, then on Thursday we taught the dance steps to Paula and Daniela, who were also helping Rosana, during any time in the day where we had free time, and finally today in the morning we practiced as well. Mr. Mesiner let us miss part of History to go to the assembly to perform for the elementary kids and we were all very nervous but once the music started it went all right. After the performance we saw a video tape that Mr. Diaz took and it went better than expected, although there was a part where Dani and Paula messed up but its ok. If I were to do this again I think I would make everyone practice more since practice makes perfect, but even though it was still a good experience.